Sauerberg is running to replace Sen. Dick Durbin. Sen. Durbin has always voted to expand the role of government in medicine. Durbin supports "universal health coverage" similar to that in Canada and Britain.

Government run, socialized universal health care, as exists in Canada and Britain, has many problems. This universal health care often means substandard care. Budget-conscious bureaucrats seldom approve expensive new technologies, as their budgets are always stretched.

Five years ago, there were more CT and MRI units in the greater St. Louis area than in all of Canada.

When I received part of my MRI training at the Cleveland Clinic hospital, 25 percent of the patients came from Canada.

A survey of U.S. teaching hospitals found that 18 medical procedures widely available to U.S. patients are not available to Canadians.

Canadian health authorities control drug spending by limiting the number of drugs they approve and by slowing the approval process. Between 1994 and 1998 the Canadian government approved only 24 of 400 new drugs made available in the United States.